The Concept of Emotional Disorder

Book excerpt: Depression and anxiety are increasingly commonly diagnosed mental health conditions in modern society, but where does the boundary between ordinary emotional experiences and an emotional disorder lie? Do we over-pathologize emotional disorders as a society? Does the field of psychiatry do the same? Weighing in on this debate, Gloria Sibson Ayob investigates the concept of emotional disorder, analyses the grounds on which an emotional state can be said to be disordered, and examines judgements of emotional health and pathology. The Concept of Emotional Disorder considers the evolution-theoretic framework currently used to explore the concept of emotional disorder, and its limitations, and offers an alternative analysis anchored in a conceptual-anthropological framework. Understanding the place of emotions, especially distressing and unpleasant ones in our lives, is essential to the pathologizing debate. By highlighting the role human values and concerns play in shaping emotional disorder and introducing new considerations that are key to the concept of emotional disorder, Sibson Ayob enriches our understanding of the value of emotions in human life and their conceptual structure.